Monotonic function

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Revision as of 17:15, 12 November 2008 by imported>Richard Pinch (typo)
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In mathematics, a function (mathematics) is monotonic or monotone increasing if preserves order: that is, if inputs x and y satisfy then the outputs from f satisfy . A monotonic decreasing function similarly reverses the order. A function is strictly monotonic if inputs x and y satisfying have outputs from f satisfying : that is, it is injective in addition to being montonic.

A special case of a monotonic function is a sequence regarded as a function defined on the natural numbers. So a sequence is monotonic increasing if implies . In the case of real sequences, a monotonic sequence converges if it is bounded. Every real sequence has a monotonic subsequence.

A differentiable function on the real numbers is monotonic when its derivative is non-zero: this is a consequence of the Mean Value Theorem.